Reporter Jennifer Martinez tried out Konami’s E3 demo room to test the game and found crisp and colorful graphics — which were nearly identical to those of the two older rivals.

As in “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band”, “Rock Revolution” players follow color-coded notes streaming on a television screen to play a rock song and earn points if the song is played correctly.

Konami’s “DDR” was the first dance video game of its kind and an international success, but “Rock Revolution” comes late to the rock band genre party, where Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts dominate.

The game currently features 40 songs but will offer more downloadable content on the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation3 after the game is released in Fall 2008. Some rock hits already featured on the game disc are Linkin Park’s “Given Up,” Blink 182′s “Small Things” and “Somebody Told Me” by the Killers.

The Konami reps were particularly proud of the game’s drum set, which includes a foot pedal and five drum tops to beat.

It’s closer to the real thing than the “Rock Band” drum set, but looks similar to pictures we’ve seen on gaming blogs of Activison Blizzard’s version for the new “Guitar Hero: World Tour” game, which will include a microphone and drum set in addition to its guitar controller.

So for now, it looks like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” can rest comfortably in this battle of the bands.

Technically, Konami actually was the first company to create a rhythm game to make use of a guitar-shaped controller — their “Guitar Freaks” games were in American and Japanese arcades a few years before “Guitar Hero” was even released.

If anything, it’s surprising that it’s taken Konami so long to build on the concept, especially with the runaway successes that “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” have had.

i saw guitar hero released for mobile phones. I wonder if they have a release for the krave? It’s got a touch screen that you can access without flipping the phone open. (motorola.com/krave). It’s definitely something to look in to

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Peter Henderson has worked for Reuters for more than a decade, covering the collapse of the Russian economy in the 1990s, media in Los Angeles and politics in San Francisco. He is West Coast Enterprise Editor, focusing on reporting and editing in-depth stories.